As shown in FIGS. 1A-D, a router 10 (as shown in FIG. 5) has been commonly used with a pattern or jig 12, 14, 15 to follow a shape or a form. Some jigs have used a bit-mounted guide bearing 16 to follow the shape, and some jigs have used the base of the router, or a collar around the bit, to follow the inside or outside of a pattern. These have all been one-to-one ratio router guide systems where the pattern 12, 14 has been the same size, or has allowed the same travel, as the desired carved or cut pattern or shape in the workpiece.
A Hybrid PantoRouter™, PantoRouter™ 49 shown in FIG. 5, and other router systems, have used a router to make cuts in wood, plastic and soft metals. The bit 52 for such a router 49 typically spins at up to ˜20,000 RPM and is often difficult to precisely control using conventional, manually-operated, methods and commonly available jigs and templates. Templates and template holder systems available to date, such as those from JDS Multi-Tools or Rockler Woodworking and Hardware, have been manufactured and sold in fixed sizes and shapes and have not allowed the degree of fine adjustment provided by the present invention to compensate for slightly different router bit diameters, for example as may have been encountered from one bit manufacturer to another, to allow for desired glue space, or to compensate for different wood species. The manufacturer of the JDS Multi-Tools and Rockler Woodworking and Hardware jigs have offered different templates of slightly different sizes, but no other system has been provided by the prior art to allow simple micro-adjustment of a router like that of the present template system.
A common method of alignment of a workpiece on a mount or table has been to measure the thickness of the workpiece using a scale or caliper, after which the user, or operator, has moved the router or mount to center the desired joint or shape on the workpiece. With this common method, there have often been required multiple test cuts and fine-tuning before a cut has been accurately centered. Of course, a downside of such a system has been wasted material, uncertainty in the process of cutting, and this has also resulted in a final product that has frequently not been as precise as would otherwise have been desirable. This in turn has led to woodworking joints, for example, such as mortise and tenon, dovetail, and box joints, that have not been as durable and have not been as accurately-fitting as would otherwise have been desirable. Or, to attain the same level of precision as the present invention would have taken much longer for set-up and multiple test cuts.
Further, while many prior art templates available today have been factory-supplied and are of good quality, nevertheless imperfections in such factory-supplied templates as shown at 18 on FIG. 1C, or in custom-made templates, have been transferred to the cut or carving at full scale. This in turn has provided a lower quality, less durable, or slower output in design and functionality than would otherwise have been desirable.